I’m early to meet author and former Tory politician Jeffrey Archer at his opulent riverside penthouse near central London. I kill time lurking around the green to the side of the building, no doubt attracting extreme suspicion.

It is the kind of location on the bank of the river Thames that might feature in one of Archer’s gripping crime novels. There’s even a bench facing the water: perfect for a spook to discreetly receive an envelope from a shady source.

Across the water is Millbank Tower, jutting up into the sky. Up the river to the right are the Houses of Parliament. To the left is Battersea Power Station. It is some view, and I find myself imagining how good it must be from Archer’s lofty perch.

There is a statue of Hindu philosopher, Basava behind the spooks’ bench. The inscription reads: “Work is worship.” I look up towards Archer’s £40 million (€46 million) abode and wonder how much worshipping is required to afford a trophy home like that.

“I’m not interested in money,” he will later say to me, not entirely convincingly.

“I haven’t been in a long time. I had dinner the night before last with Bernie Ecclestone [the former Formula One mogul from whom Archer bought the penthouse]. I asked him what’s the difference between £100 million and £1 billion? I haven’t got a private jet. Don’t want one. I haven’t got a yacht. Don’t want one. Everything else: I’ve got.”

Archer says he told Ecclestone’s wife that he owned three houses and asked how many they own. He says she “groaned and said 15 and pointed at Bernie and said it was all his fault. I just looked at her and asked: what’s the point?”

Archer (85) last week marked the release of his new novel, End Game, the eighth and final instalment of his William Warwick detective series.